Expanded Meta (Top Tier and/or Commonly Seen Deck Strategies)

[dmaz]

I'd rate it as a solid 4, maybe could be even taken to 5 if someone puts in the time, the card's raw power is huge.

I had completely overlooked this until now.

I'd say a big part of making this work VERY seamlessly would be getting those maximum of 4 cards into your hand every fellowship phase. Twilight pool isn't so much of an issue if you are exerting minions twice 3 - 6 times (that's 6 to 12 direct wounds essentially, with the cost of a mere possession being the cost for two wounds on a minion...not bad).

Maybe even tossing in Gandalf, the Grey Pilgrim? What dynamics does Gondor have for getting cards into hand (without using the OTHER Denethor )?

[sgtdraino]

I had completely overlooked this until now.

I'd say a big part of making this work VERY seamlessly would be getting those maximum of 4 cards into your hand every fellowship phase. Twilight pool isn't so much of an issue if you are exerting minions twice 3 - 6 times (that's 6 to 12 direct wounds essentially, with the cost of a mere possession being the cost for two wounds on a minion...not bad).

Maybe even tossing in Gandalf, the Grey Pilgrim? What dynamics does Gondor have for getting cards into hand (without using the OTHER Denethor )?

I'm thinking the best setup might be Saved from the Fire. You could also theoretically use Gamling to pull out a generic Gondor possession every turn, and then These Are My People to recycle them.

[Shelobplayer]

I'm thinking the best setup might be Saved from the Fire. You could also theoretically use Gamling to pull out a generic Gondor possession every turn, and then These Are My People to recycle them.

These Are my People is definitely an amazing card for LRS decks. The version I used at the kitchen table started with Faramir, BOQ + Denethor, LRS + Pippin, WOBAS + Smeagol, AH and used Unheeded and Don't Look at Them to finish off minions early on before it built up it's fellowship, you can find my old real life LRS list here somewhere (I never owned a single copy of TAMP unfortunately lol). Later on you Ranger's Longbow can easily take care of business and archery in general makes great synergy with LRS, as well as Eowyn, LOI.

Gamling, DOTH could be used as well to fetch an extra Armor or Coat of mail each turn as well, but

[sgtdraino]

Gamling, DOTH could be used as well to fetch an extra Armor or Coat of mail each turn as well, but

But... what?

Post #1 has again been updated, more deck strategies added, ratings card updated. I finally decided what to call my own unique Shadow strategy: I've dubbed it Sudden Strike, after the event of the same name. I think it fits with the overall feel of what that Shadow does. Also, as rainbow as it is (it contains EVERY Shadow culture), thanks to all the support cards, there is more culture in it than anything else. Feel free to rate it! I of course think it's awesome, so I gave it 5.

[idleninja]

Thanks for posting this, now I have some deck ideas I can try.

Gamling, DOTH could be used as well to fetch an extra Armor or Coat of mail each turn as well, but

But... what?

Armor, Coat of Mail, Great Shield, Flaming Brand, very nice idea Shelobplayer. Nevermind. Funny I was looking at WoTR set lists over the weekend and was thinking LRS might be a power card, guess I was right.

[dmaz]

I see a lot of talk of These Are My People being a good cards for the LRS deck...but doesn't LRS have you remove the possession from the game, not just discard it? Maybe I'm missing something...

[Shelobplayer]

But... what?

See, that's a great question!

I see a lot of talk of These Are My People being a good cards for the LRS deck...but doesn't LRS have you remove the possession from the game, not just discard it? Maybe I'm missing something...

Good point
Remove effects should belong to MTG anyway

So the deck could be a Rohan/Gondor/Smeagol combo I guess. Faramir, BoQ + Gamling, DOTH + Eowyn, LOI + some version of Smeagol in the starting fellow, Aragorn, DOR pulled by Simbelmyne maybe and play 4 copies of LRS. Use bows on Gorn/Faramir, throw in some Gondor Bowmen, then finish off the rest with LoI. A bit too straight forward for me, but doesn't sound bad

[sgtdraino]

I see a lot of talk of These Are My People being a good cards for the LRS deck...but doesn't LRS have you remove the possession from the game, not just discard it? Maybe I'm missing something...

Woops. Duh.

Post #1 updated!

[sgtdraino]

EDIT: I think Denethor, LRS strategies should be listed here somewhere.

Here's a fairly epic game I had last night against one of these:

http://www.gempukku.com/gemp-lotr/game.html?replayId=sgtdraino$utb4tytl9nvoxy7l

The guy called me a wizard when I triple moved from Site 2 to Site 4, catching up to him. But I think the best bit is when all the most famous minions come out at the end and clobber him!

Post #1 is updated.

[Eukalyptus]

I'm thinking the best setup might be Saved from the Fire. You could also theoretically use Gamling to pull out a generic Gondor possession every turn, and then These Are My People to recycle them.

These Are my People is definitely an amazing card for LRS decks. The version I used at the kitchen table started with Faramir, BOQ + Denethor, LRS + Pippin, WOBAS + Smeagol, AH and used Unheeded and Don't Look at Them to finish off minions early on before it built up it's fellowship, you can find my old real life LRS list here somewhere (I never owned a single copy of TAMP unfortunately lol). Later on you Ranger's Longbow can easily take care of business and archery in general makes great synergy with LRS, as well as Eowyn, LOI.

Gamling, DOTH could be used as well to fetch an extra Armor or Coat of mail each turn as well, but

LRS removes from the game, making TAMP useless.

[sgtdraino]

Somebody didn't read the whole thread.

[sgtdraino]

Post #1 updated. Now listing 69 deck strategies! 33 Free Peoples, 36 Shadow.

[Shelobplayer]

Powerful Guide
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,5881.0.html
-Normally sets up with Saved from the Fire. Very tough, once established.
-Weaknesses: Skipping Maneuver, Forest Nazgul, direct wounding, and minions with lots of vitality.
-Encounters: //2
-Rating: *****5

I played PG a lot. Mostly the list that you linked, and mostly with physical cards, and not on GEMP (although I have a 100% winrate with it on gemp with about 10 games), and I'd like to comment on those weaknesses.

Skipping maneuver: what the deck does in maneuver is activating Grimbeorn and attaching Pallando, it is completely fine without that. The problem is Demon of Might at cavern entrance, one or the other are not really threatening separately, but if you shut down both Dale Counselor and Grimbeorn, it will lose both ways to recycle spells for Gandalf.

Forest Nazgul: You hit one of them with Enraged Shepherd to exert all of them once (SOTSF first if required), then they all fall to either stronger fighters or activations of PG/ Radagast's Herb Bag. Forest nazguls are a walk in the park more often than not.

The decks's weakness is that it's very reliant on Gandalf (no SOTSF, no Strength of Spirit, no Intimidate without him).

A generic SFTF setup for PG is disadvantegous in my opinion (burning Leader of Men with the first SFTF is the equivalent of giving 9 twilight to search for a single card of value). The Long-Stemmed Pipe variant on the other hand could work exceptionally well.

[sgtdraino]

Skipping maneuver: what the deck does in maneuver is activating Grimbeorn and attaching Pallando, it is completely fine without that. The problem is Demon of Might at cavern entrance, one or the other are not really threatening separately, but if you shut down both Dale Counselor and Grimbeorn, it will lose both ways to recycle spells for Gandalf.

If Dale Counselor is exhausted, pretty much any Underground + Balrog, Demon of Might will do. Stopping Grimbeorn is pretty important IMO, because it's much more likely that Gandalf will have to face The Balrog himself.

Forest Nazgul: You hit one of them with Enraged Shepherd to exert all of them once (SOTSF first if required), then they all fall to either stronger fighters or activations of PG/ Radagast's Herb Bag. Forest nazguls are a walk in the park more often than not.

Good point, I've removed them from the "Weaknesses" section.

The decks's weakness is that it's very reliant on Gandalf (no SOTSF, no Strength of Spirit, no Intimidate without him).

That's true, although I don't know if I'd call that a weakness. PG is incredibly hard to kill.

A generic SFTF setup for PG is disadvantegous in my opinion (burning Leader of Men with the first SFTF is the equivalent of giving 9 twilight to search for a single card of value). The Long-Stemmed Pipe variant on the other hand could work exceptionally well.

That is true, although in the description you'll note it just says "sets up with SFTF," not that SFTF is necessarily used to grab Gandalf. In your version of this deck, it still primarily sets itself up using SFTF.

Post #1 has been updated, and cleaned up a bit. Switched the Powerful Guide link to the new thread you just made on it. Combed through the Expanded forum, and have added links to 24 of the strategies listed in Post #1. Could use a lot of help for the rest!

[Shelobplayer]

There are a few   strategies that I used to see around in the GCCG days yet I haven't encountered a single one of them on GEMP. There is this shadow using and reusing Wold Battlefield and gets Pavise on fatties, and the possession stacking stuff with Coldly Still, Ceremonial Armor and all those minions froms ROS and Last Days, and various combinations of these (I played the deceived wizards condition deck with Coldly Still for example on GCCG). I'll work on some sample lists and post them later on when I'm comfortable with them. Both are fairly powerful strategies.